Professionals' Standards of "Normal" Behavior with Anatomical Dolls and Factors That Influence These Standards.

Kendall-Tackett, Kathleen A.

A total of 201 professionals who work with victims of child sexual abuse were asked to rate the extent to which various behaviors with anatomically correct dolls would be normal for nonabused children between 2 and 5.9 years of age. Subjects were either law enforcement or mental health professionals. Behaviors ranged from such ambiguous behaviors as undressing the dolls, looking at and touching dolls' genitals, and avoiding the dolls, to such highly sexualized behaviors as showing vaginal or anal penetration, showing oral-genital or genital-genital contact, and showing fondling or digital penetration. The majority of subjects agreed that overtly sexual behaviors, such as demonstrating oral-genital contact, were abnormal for nonabused childen. For less obvious behaviors, such as touching the sex parts of dolls, there was considerably less agreement. The ratings of these ambiguous behaviors varied depending on the profession of the subject, sex of the subject, and number of years of experience. Law enforcement professionals, women, and those with the least number of years of experience were more likely than others to view ambiguous behaviors as abnormal. Findings are discussed in the context of past research and directions for future studies. (RH)